The application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2003-327638 filed on Sep. 19, 2003 which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface hardness distribution measuring method and an apparatus thereof, and in particular, to the surface hardness distribution measuring method and apparatus capable of measuring hardness distribution of a surface portion of a farm product and a tissue surface portion in a medical field in one or more dimensions and visually grasping the hardness distribution.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are ongoing researches for associating measurement of one's skin age, detection of a focus and detection of ripeness of vegetables and fruits with impedance parameters. In the case where a subject is a living bowel, there is no definite fixed point and so absolute measurement is difficult. If considered from a standpoint of finding a cancerous tissue for instance, however, it becomes a beneficial food for thought as regards a substantive diagnosis if relative hardness can be clarified in relation to surroundings. So far, there has been an air blast apparatus of an endoscope indicated in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-235785, for instance, as the one for detecting a local hardness of living bowel linings.
FIG. 13 shows a state of using such an apparatus. In FIG. 13, an endoscope end portion 1 has an optical objective portion 2 and an air blast probe 3 connected to an air supply apparatus provided thereto, where pulse-like pressurized air can be blasted from the air blast probe 3. It is possible, with such an endoscope, to blast the air from the air blast probe 3 to a stomach wall 4 (dotted area k1) like pulses and optically observe a deformation and change state of the stomach wall 4 with an eye piece or a monitor via the optical objective portion 2 so as to grasp rigidity (hardness), viscosity and so on of the stomach wall 4.